The Lost Prince (14 page)

Drey thought a moment, “I guess you would be in line for the throne.”

“You guess right. I’m slated to marry the current King in two years but that isn’t going to happen.”

“Why not?”

Andi looked at Drey, “If Violet could escape that imprisonment, so can I.”

“I’m surprised they allowed you to go.”

Andi smiled, “They didn’t.”

“Oh!”

“I talked about Ariene with Cole and told him that I would rather die than accept the crown. Cole has been telling the Crown that I was just assisting in the ship’s construction. I’ll just turn up missing later. No one saw me on board before you lifted.”

Drey shook his head, “Well it’s a good thing we’re not going to be flying around Union space. You’d be easily recognized.”

“I don’t look all that different.”

“Are you out of your mind? The geneticists must be working for extreme beauty in the Genetics. You and Violet are the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Trust me on this, you would be recognized.”

Andi bowed and said, “Thank you.” She took her chair and said, “Well, it’s off on a chase.”

Drey turned to his board and said, “We’re jumping in three, two, one, and now.”

The view out the front of the ship dimmed slightly and then the planet appeared below them. They moved out and Drey said, “Doc, get a scan on what happens when E appears.”

“I’m ahead of you. It’s already running.”

“Drey.”

“Yeah.”

“Why were you so brutal when you were chasing Ian?”

Drey took a deep breath and slowly shook his head. There was a minute and fifty seconds before E was due to appear. “Andi, I did what I was trained to do. My instructors conditioned every emotional response out of me. I did the logical thing required in every situation.”

“But that woman you killed?”

Drey continued to look at the front port and said, “Did you know I went to the woman that was sitting beside her before I went to her residence?”

“No, I don’t think anyone knows that.”

“That’s how I was able to get Natalie’s name which ultimately gave me her address. I found her friend outside her house playing with her little boy.”

“What did you do!?!”

“I asked her who was sitting beside her at the restaurant, told her she had a beautiful son, and left.”

“Why didn’t you kill them?”

“They had done nothing to deserve it. Natalie had assisted Ian in escaping. A lesson had to be given to everyone that any assistance would be treated harshly. It was the logical thing to do.”

There was a long moment and with thirty seconds left before E was due Andi asked the question she wanted to avoid, “How do you feel about it now?”

Drey took a deep breath and released it. He continued to stare out the port and said, “It was the logical thing to do.” Andi’s expression turned sad until Drey said, “It wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Andi looked out the port with a small smile and saw E appear.

E
appeared above the planet and looked like he was in flames. The explosions on the planet were massive. Drey said, “Doc, show me what you recorded.”

Andi came over and looked over Drey’s shoulder. “I’m playing it at a hundredth speed.” They watched as E slowly emerged into view and before the ship was fully visible they saw the three port side blaster firing at the planet and a white streak that left the small ship at an incredible velocity. “Doc, what was that white streak?”

“That was one of the missiles in E’s hull.”

“Show me the surface where it hit.” A view of the planet moved closer and they saw a huge five mile wide crater in the planet’s surface. “How deep is that crater?”

“A little more than a mile deep.”

Drey looked at Andi and said, “It looks like the aliens that weren’t as advanced possessed a rather powerful weapon.”

“It was powerful but it was extremely difficult to control.”

“Why do you say that, Doc?”

“It was fired from the units under the ship’s wings and they didn’t have a real guidance system to fire them. I suspect they just volleyed a barrage at their target.”

Andi said, “The advance ships that crashed on the planet only have one point of penetration.”

“That means the other’s missed.”

Drey shrugged, “It’s like Earth’s ancient naval wars where submersible ships would fire a spread of torpedoes to hit a single target.”

“Something just like that, Drey. They wouldn’t be effective from long range. The ship firing them had to come within killing range of the advanced ship’s blasters.”

“Doc, send a copy of this to Ian.”

“I did that when they finished firing.”

“Boy, you’re good.”

“Just doing what logic demands.”

Drey sighed and said, “You also need to do what’s right, Doc.”

“I know. I’ve seen what you learned from our family.”

Drey looked down at his control board, stood up, looked at Andi, and said, “Call me when their analysis is complete.” He walked off the bridge and Andi saw his sadness. She had studied all the recordings ever made of Drey when he was a Nebula Officer. He never showed much emotion and sadness was never seen. She smiled.

• • •

“Drey, E is ready to go over what we’ve learned.”

“I’ll be right up.”

Ian was on the main display when Drey arrived and he said, “It appears our weapons are available immediately.” Drey nodded. “E has also made an interesting discovery.”

“What is that?”

E said, “I don’t know where I go when I jump, but the ship must follow a path through something and it’s not instantaneous.”

Drey looked at Andi and saw her brow was furrowed. “Tell me what you mean.”

“It appears to be instant but remember the dimming of the display when we jump. If was instant there would not be any time to see it dim.”

Drey shrugged, “That makes sense.”

“My circuits work at light speed so I can see it happen.”

“Go on.”

“My emergence into space at the place I arrive appears to be happening quickly, but I actually see the jump field as it moves down the ship and disappears. The first part of the ship to emerge into space is where the field first starts to move down.”

Drey said, “Can you control the field when you emerge?”

“I’ve discovered I can.”

Drey leaned back in his chair, “Now that is interesting.”

Ian said, “What do you see, Drey?”

“E, you could just allow a small piece of your hull to emerge and keep the rest of it in the place you traveled to arrive.”

“I really think I can.”

Violet said, “Drey, how would that be an advantage?”

Drey said, “If our ships can pull that off, they could be a cork.”

“What?”

“The main body of the cork would be below the surface and the scanner would be the only thing floating on the surface of normal space. We could scan what’s around us and if there’s trouble, a new coordinate could be entered and we’d jump away.”

Ian tilted his head to the left and looked at Violet. He said, “E, are you capable of doing that?”

“Why don’t we see?”

Drey said, “E, jump at a further distance from us and we’ll see if we detect your return.”

Ian said, “You don’t want to take Doc and give it a go?”

Doc said, “I’m new to my systems and E has been using his for a long time. He has more control than I do. He should be the one to do it. He’s more experienced.”

E said, “Thanks for that vote of confidence, Doc. I’ll download everything to you and you’ll have everything I’ve got.”

“That would be greatly appreciated, E.”

Ian said, “Ok, we’ll go and see if you can detect our return.” The small ship disappeared and Drey said, “Doc, I want you at full power to the scanners.”

“I’m there.”

Fifteen minutes later Drey said, “Doc?”

“I haven’t seen anything.”

Drey pushed the communicator, “Have you come back yet.”

“We’re actually two miles from you. We arrived fifty miles away and began moving toward you to see if you’d detect us.”

“Well, keep coming.”

“I’ve got them!”

E emerged into space less than a mile from Doc’s position.

Drey said, “E, I want you to come up and go back down, exposing different places on your hull.”

Ian said, “Why do you want to do that?”

Drey smiled, “We might want to fire a blaster or a missile.”

Ian laughed and looked at Violet. She shook her head and said, “I know, I know, I’ll pay off.”

They watched E go up and down exposing parts of his hull. “E, how fast can you do that?”

I think I’ve got it calibrated. Give me a moment.” They waited and E said, “I’m going to emerge, fire a blaster at the planet and go back under cover.”

“Doc, see if you can detect him. E, move away from us about five miles.”

“Alright, I’m ready.”

“Take a shot.”

Suddenly a blaster bolt shot out at the planet. “Doc?”

“I did not detect him. I should have been able to see him if he emerged high enough to expose a blaster.”

E laughed, “I actually rolled the scanner under and brought the blaster port to the surface. There was less above surface with the blaster than the scanner.”

Drey said, “We need to get this information back to Cole before we go anywhere.”

E said, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

Ian said, “What’s that?”

“I felt something pass close by me a few moments ago.”

The silence was deafening. Andi said, “Tell me what you sensed, E.”

“I’m having difficulty describing it.” There was a pause and then E said, “Ian, do you remember when you went to the beach on Euclid and stood in the surf about eighty yards off shore.”

“I do. Something swam by me. It had to be a huge fish or something.”

“The water rushed by you under the surface.”

“That’s exactly what I felt. It had to be huge to cause that amount of water pressure as it went by.”

“You made it to the beach rather quickly as I remember. However, that’s exactly what I sensed a few moments ago. Whatever it was, it was big.”

Drey said, “Do you think it was larger than the advanced ships we found on the planet?”

“Whatever it was, it dwarfed those ships.”

Drey was silent for a moment and said, “We’re going to have to leave the blasters on the moon.”

Ian said, “Why?”

“If E felt a ship pass close by here, this planet must be on a route that’s regularly used. If we destroy the blasters, someone might see it and start looking for who did it. It’s probably not good that we hit the planet with our blasters and missile.”

Ian said, “We need to calibrate our targeting systems.”

“We’ve done that, Ian.”

“What?”

“I did it when I fired on the planet. I’ve sent the calibrations to Doc. His systems were already locked in. Cole did an excellent job of aligning them.”

Drey looked at Ian on his display and said, “Cole needs this information.”

“You’ll have to deliver it.”

Andi said, “I’m taking the shuttle over to E while he’s gone.”

“Why?”

“Euclid doesn’t know I’m here.”

Violet looked at Andi, “Was that a good idea?”

“Was running away a good idea, Violet?”

“Touché, come over and we’ll wait for Drey to come back.”

“Doc, do you have the download from E?”

“I do and I’ve incorporated it into my systems.”

“Package it into an encrypted message. We’ll be back.” Drey looked around the bridge and it felt somehow isolated. He watched Andi’s small shuttle enter E’s landing bay and he said, “Take us to Euclid.”

Andi arrived on the bridge and saw Doc disappear. She saw Violet staring at her, “I will not go back.” Violet raised her eyebrows. “Not without him.”

“Does he know?”

Andi looked out the view port, “Not yet.”

Violet stared at her older sister and wondered what heartbreak awaited her. She was shocked their brother had allowed her to escape.

• • •

Drey arrived at Euclid and sent a call to Cole. “What are you doing back?”

“We’ve discovered some technological advances that you need to incorporate into any new ships you might build.”

Cole stared at him and said, “Send them to me.” Drey sent the encrypted package and Cole looked up from his computer. He looked at Drey and said, “Have you seen the Princess?”

Drey stared at Cole and knew the conversation was being monitored by the Obelisk. “Which one?”

“Victoria Andgel Montgomery.”

“I saw her a lot during the construction of my ship. Why do you ask?”

Doc said, “We’re being scanned.”

“She’s gone missing. The Crown is concerned about her safety.”

Drey leaned back in his chair and said, “One would think that the Crown could take better care at keeping track of their Royalty.”

Suddenly another face appeared on Drey’s display and said, “I’m Duke Montgomery. We think that the Lost Princess was able to contact her sister and tell her how to escape.”

Drey’s surprise was obvious to both of the ones watching him on their display. “Sister?”

The Duke started nodding, “I know, I know, there appears to be a desire to avoid their Royal duties. However, we need her back.”

“And you thought she would be with me?” The Duke shrugged as Cole watched the conversation. “Your Highness, you’ve seen my history have you not?”

“I have.”

“Do you think any sane person would want to be anywhere close to me?”

The Duke stared at Drey and said, “You make a good point. Please inform us if you see her.”

“You know I’ll be outside the Union.”

The Duke nodded and disappeared from the display. Cole stared at Drey and said, “I’m worried about her welfare.”

Drey stared at him and said, “I got to know her during my ship’s construction. I don’t believe you have to worry about that.”

“You don’t?”

“No, she has a way of making all those around her a better person. I’m better to have met her. Good luck in finding her.”

Cole smiled and said, “Thank you for your concern.”

The display went dark and Drey said, “Doc, get us out or here.”

Cole replayed the recording of Drey’s conversation and saw that at no point had he told a lie. He was given an opportunity to remove Andi from his ship and hadn’t taken it. The Dark Officer was not quite as dark anymore. He leaned back in his chair and thought about Andi using Ariene to persuade him to allow her to leave. He was going to refuse, but then realized that he wished he had run with Ariene. Her sorrow at having to leave him broke his heart. He couldn’t let his sister die a slow death on Euclid. He pressed a button and the Duke appeared, “I seem to remember Andgell had friends on Italia.”